AP Exclusive: New regs sought for child car seats

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By JOAN LOWY

WASHINGTON (AP) - Child car seats would for the first time have to protect children from death and injury in side-impact crashes under regulations the government is proposing, The Associated Press has learned.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeks to upgrade standards for child seats for children weighing up to 40 pounds to include a new test that simulates a side crash. The agency estimates the standards will prevent the deaths of about five children and injuries to 64 others each year.

NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman is scheduled to announce the proposal Wednesday.

Under the proposal, the new tests will simulate a "T-bone" crash, where the front of a vehicle traveling 30 mph strikes the side of a small passenger vehicle traveling at 15 mph. The tests will position the car seat on a sled, with another sled ramming the side of the sled with the seat, rather than using actual vehicles since the aim isn't to test the crash worthiness of specific vehicles, NHTSA officials said.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140122/DABFREE83.html

[msanthrope]

1. Good...and I think every child in America ought to get one for free. nt

[AllyCat]

2. Hear, hear!

It is astonishing how many families cannot afford car seats. The cheap ones meet minimum standards (usually), but they are so difficult to use, no one used them correctly.

[msanthrope]

3. I hope the pro-lifers in Congress take this up. nt

[Sunlei]

4. we need adult size car seats in all cars. :)

[frazzled]

5. I'm wondering how long it will take the new law to be in place

Because I'm already facing a car-seat quandary. About to become grandparents for the first time in a few months, my husband and I decided we needed to buy an infant seat for our car: our son and daughter-in-law (urban dwellers in the same city) don't own a car, and don't plan to own a car. Just to get the baby home from the hospital we decided a rear-facing infant seat was a necessity for SOMEONE to have. Because the hospital is too far to walk home from, and you wouldn't want to take a newborn home in a taxi or on the freaking train. We'll possibly use that seat at most once a month for the year or two the baby fits it. But fine, it will still be worth it.

Okay, so I've done the research and thought I had something picked out. But I'd really rather not invest several hundred dollars on a seat (the cost of the model I picked, which is rated highest for safety and is supposed to be easiest to install and de-install ) that will be obsolete by, say, June, when the baby is only two months old.

Safety regulations are always good news, but in this case, the timing seems like a bummer to me. I've worked hard to find the safest seat possible, and now it will not be safe enough if the new regulations go through. (Or maybe it already has the side impact requirements, I'll have to waste another hour finding out.)

[BumRushDaShow]

6. The comment period is 3 months

And there will probably be alot of comments (particularly from manufacturers). As the article notes, it can sometimes take a couple years to make a reg final although they may try to get it done sooner. BUT here is the kicker in the article regarding the time frame -

The proposal includes giving car seat manufacturers three years to make any adjustments to meet the new requirements. That window doesn't begin until the regulations are made final.

So go on and get the seat you researched now because by the time a "compliant" car seat is ready for sale, your grand baby will not only be out of the infant seat, but possibly out of the car seat too, and ready for a regular booster seat! This doesn't mean that some manufacturers will go ahead and try to make something "compliant" themselves but they are not being required to rush to do so and will probably need to do alot of testing in any case, in order to be certified.

One thing that you might want to think about getting is a seat that is FAA-approved and can fit in a plane seat (I think the width is like 17" for that). So just in case your son and DIL decide to travel on a plane (or even a train), they could have something to "borrow" that would work in a car or on a train or plane.

[frazzled]

7. Thanks, I figured as much

I will proceed as planned (and thanks for the FAA tip: I just checked and the model I chose I believe is fine in that regard).

I'm not so sure these manufacturers will be so opposed to the changes. It means they sell more car seats, because people can't use the one they bought for infant #1 for infant #2. Also, people can't resell their used ones, making more people have to buy new ones.